Our how–to guide on legalizing your Vancouver basement suite before tenants move in Moving into a house in Vancouver is often not a cheap endeavour. That’s why, after settling in the Lower Mainland, many new homeowners choose to rent out some rooms in their houses to help out with the mortgage. The basement suite is often the first choice for a rental. But, like many things in life, good planning is essential to doing something right — in a lot of Metro Vancouver areas, you can’t just start renting out a basement right away. Basement suites have to pass certain standards before tenants can move in. So today, we’ll give a few tips on how to legalize your Vancouver basement suite. First, get through the paperwork needed to legalize your Vancouver basement suite Legalizing a basement suite in Vancouver involves a lot of paperwork. If you take a look at the City of Vancouver website, you’ll see there are a number of permits and inspections needed before you can start renting out your home and allowing movers to bring in furniture so the place is livable. This may also be the case with suburbs of Vancouver, so check with your local municipal, city or corporation site for variations on the rules surrounding what makes a legal basement suite. First things first, you’ll need to apply for an initial inspection. The idea is that the city will send someone over to see what, if any, work your basement suite needs in order for it to comply with regulations. You’ll then get a letter listing all the changes that you’ll need...